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Last year, drum and bass duo QBIG & Zenith B made the decision to ditch the extra noise from their name — the two came together as one, identifying simply as QZB. Though it was a creative move, this change is a perfect metaphor for the direction the duo went on to take: less is more. Coming soon via Critical Music, QZB present their all-new Take It All EP, featuring five new tunes that include collaborations with artists such as Circuits and Was A Be. We’ve got the exclusive premiere of the final tune, “Signature Imprint,” and we got a chance to catch up with the duo to talk about what’s in store.

Regarding the vision of this stone-cold EP, QZB said it came naturally. “We didn’t conceptualise it too much,” they said. “We did a lot of experimentation and spent a lot of time in the studio working on music, so the aspect of quality control could be the overall motive of this EP. We do tracks nearly on a daily basis, but we only take the things which stand out for us personally, so they always represent our moods and visions during the process of creation. In our opinion, an EP should be diverse in terms of musical content and compile tunes which are rememberable and special. The vision or concept of an EP goes hand in hand with the artwork which is all done by our good friend Thomas Steiner. Once we’re going for a bigger body of work, like an album, we’d certainly orchestrate the whole thing to a much bigger extent.”

Of all the tunes on the EP, “Capsized” takes the cake for doing the most with just a few elements. QZB said achieving this effect is all about emotion when writing the tune. “As soon as you’re having a certain feeling or image in your head when the music starts, you’re on the right track,” they said. “Especially with a reduced and more minimal take on music, the overall mood of the track is much more important, leaving blanks for listeners to actually make up their own interpretation of what’s happening. Once we lay down the structure and overall groove, it’s all about the details which make you discover things even after several sessions of listening.”

Since moving to the simplistic alias of QZB, the guys have tightened up their vibe in a number of ways: “We’ve been very close, even before we switched our name. We work at the same company, live in the same city, have the same friends and are part of a crew throwing monthly nights in Basel, Switzerland. We’re like brothers and do everything together, not only in music since we both have the same interests. After six years of collaboration, we became one artist — not a combination of two, so both our creative identities have merged and formed a certain musical vision and workflow.”